The closed, mutually supportive relationships that often prevail in the United States between the government
agencies, the special interest lobbying organizations, and the legislative committees or subcommittees with
jurisdiction over a particular functional area of government policy. As long as they hang together, the members
of these small groups of movers and shakers tend to dominate all policy-making in their respective specialized
areas of concern, and they tend to present a united front against "outsiders" who attempt to invade
their turf and alter established policies that have been worked out by years of private negotiations among the
"insiders." The middle-level bureaucrats who run the agencies may use their special friends in Congress
to block the efforts of a new President or a new Congressional majority leadership bent on reforming or reducing
the size of their agencies. The Congressmen and Senators on the oversight committees can count upon their friends
in the agencies to continue "pet" programs and pork-barrel projects important to their local constituencies or even to
do special favors for their political supporters and financial backers. Lobbying organizations provide useful
information to the committees and the agencies, provide campaign support for the relevant Congressmen, and often
help to mobilize public opinion in favor of larger appropriations and expanded programs for "their" part of the
government bureaucracy. In return, they tend to be
consulted and carefully placated when new laws or administrative regulations or important appointments affecting
their special interests are being made. These triangles are said to be "strong as iron" in that these
mutually supportive relationships are often so politically powerful that representatives of the more general
interests of society are usually effectively prevented from "interfering" with policy-making
altogether whenever their concept of the general interest runs counter
to the special interests of the entrenched interest
groups, bureaucrats and politicians.